The body of folk wisdom and research on the characteristics of successful developmental educators indicates, among other findings, that: (1) the single most important factor influencing learning is not the teacher but what the learner already knows; (2) excellence in teaching involves a genuine concern for students; (3) successful instructors are…

This report focuses on current attempts by researchers to examine teacher effectiveness through the "task hypothesis," which asserts that effective teachers accomplish a large and diverse set of tasks--or discrete, goal-oriented units of work--in their classroom. After an introductory critique of past efforts to assess teacher "traits" or…

Major research findings about student learning styles and implications for improving college and university teaching and the impact that instructional change has on college administration of instructional programs are addressed. The term "learning style" refers to a student's consistent way of responding and using stimuli in the context of…

This paper first evaluates discipline classification schemes and general differences between disciplines associated with the natural sciences and those associated with the humanities. It then reviews research which either asked students how professors in these fields teach, observed teachers in their classrooms, or asked students to describe their…